


Closer

by nishiki



Series: Kliego Moments [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Diego Hargreeves, Break Up, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, Diego Hargreeves-centric, Eudora breaking up with Diego, Former Relationships, Introspection, M/M, Relationship(s), kliego - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25668544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: The night Eudora breaks up with Diego for good, Diego sees an unexpected face in the crowd
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves/Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Kliego Moments [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818838
Comments: 4
Kudos: 144





	Closer

Parties had never been Diego’s thing. It wasn’t like he hated _fun_ it was just that going on parties and socializing was not exactly his idea of having fun. He would be much rather in a nice bar with good music, dancing the night away with someone he loved instead of standing around with overpriced drinks talking to people he couldn't give two-flying-fucks about while they complained about their non-problems. His only options were either to leave - which would upset Eudora - or get completely wasted - which wasn’t really his thing, to begin with. Otherwise, he would not be able to stand one more conversation about that rude saleswoman at that nice boutique in Soho that had told Jane that she should try that lovely dress she wanted one size bigger - the audacity - just because she had barely been able to zip it without screaming. 

However, as Eudora pulled him aside and away from her gaggle of girlfriends, at last, Diego realized that upsetting Eudora might not even be a risk he needed to shy away from. The way Eudora had been looking at him all throughout the night had spoken volumes. He knew what was coming his way, as she pulled him into a quieter corner of the bar of the hotel that they had ended up meeting Eudora’s friends. 

Their relationship had been ailing for weeks now, if not right from the start, and although he knew that the break-up was inevitable, he felt like a complete failure as it came. 

“It's just” Eudora sighed and drove a hand through her long hair which she so rarely wore down like she did tonight. Behind her, one of her girlfriends was calling her over even though she could clearly see that Eudora was talking to Diego right now. Disrespectful fucks. They had treated him like an intruder from the moment he had walked in with Eudora at his side - even though they had been the ones demanding that Eudora would finally introduce him to her friends. “I feel like we both want very different things from a relationship, Diego.” He hated it when she was trying to sugarcoat things. Especially when he knew exactly what she meant. He wasn’t good enough. “You are not ready for a new relationship yet. I feel you are still not over your ex and I think that it's not fair to me or to you to continue all of this.”

“Which one of your friends said that?” Diego groaned in response. He had seen them hover around Eudora when he returned from the bar earlier, talking to her in hushed but very much insisting voices only to stop as soon as they had noticed him returning. He wasn’t good enough in their eyes. He had no job, no home of his own, nothing to show for while Eudora was trying to make her career in law enforcement. He knew that they saw him as an albatross around Eudora’s neck. He knew that Eudora wanted to settle down eventually, that she wanted children and a white picket fence - and she wanted that with a man who would be able to provide for her if she needed it. That man, and they had both known that from the start, was not Diego. 

“It's not like that-”

“Of course, it is.” He frowned. He had met Eudora’s friends only today and suddenly Eudora wanted to break up with him? Bullshit. “Tell your friends it was nice to meet them but I hope I’ll never see them again.” 

Before Eudora could say anything else, Diego turned around - away from her and the hurt look on her face - and stomped off. And yes, maybe he was childish for walking away from his girlfriend - _ex-girlfriend_ \- like this but he didn't care. He didn't care if Eudora was hurt either. _She_ had broken up with _him_. He was allowed to be angry. He was allowed to be hurt - even though his father would say he was weak for being hurt by this situation. Reginald would be so disappointed. He had tried his best to beat the weakness and the softness of Diego’s heart out of him, after all. He should be able to look at this situation with much more reserve and clarity and not allow his anger and pain to color his perception.

In the end, he would always remain a disappointment. Never good enough. Never strong enough.

A part of him knew that Eudora had put up with him for so long because he had had a certain appeal to her. An appeal that had made her forget all the things she wanted out of a serious relationship for a few months until her friends had persistently reminded her of those things. 

He had met women like her before. That kind of girl that thought he was some sort of broken, hurt little boy and that they would be able to change him for the better only to realize that they couldn't and lose interest. Eudora was the same. They had met half a year ago at the police academy and she had not liked him very much at first - until he had gotten kicked out, got drunk, and tore his dorm room apart. They had become friends afterward and then, the moment he had started opening up a little, she had latched onto him like he was a charity case. In that way, she reminded him of his other ex-girlfriend before her, Lila. She had been one manipulative person preying on Diego’s deep-seated longing for a relationship, for love and companionship, for respect, and being seen as something else than Number Two. If it hadn't been for Klaus … she might still be toying with him now. 

Well, and now that Eudora was no longer his girlfriend Diego actually was a charity case because he had no place to go. He had no apartment, no job apart from the one in the grocery store that barely paid enough to keep him afloat. He had his car, at least. He had lived in his car before and he could do it again. He remembered that Lila used to make fun of him for that. Not in the beginning, of course. It had taken a while before she had shown how little respect she truly had for him. 

Of course, he could go back to the academy but … he would rather shoot himself before going back from where he came. Maybe he could go to Vanya and ask her to crash on her couch for a week or so. It seemed wrong, however, to go to her after ignoring her for all her life. The worst part about that was that he knew that she would actually help him after everything her siblings had thrown at her.

He was walking through the hotel bar and past Eudora’s gaggle of tipsy friends. He hadn't wanted to come to this stupid party in the first place and the people in his way as he tried to escape were grating on his nerves. Just then, as he managed to get near the actual bar and thus closer to the exit, he noticed a much too familiar face and paused in his tracks. 

The moment he caught glimpse of the face that he had not seen in over two years, his entire world came crashing to a halt and turned upside down. He actually felt kinda dizzy as his eyes fell upon the face of Number Four sitting at the bar like it was nobody’s business, chatting to a stranger with a very colorful drink in his hand while his other hand was already resting on the forearm of the man beside him. The look Klaus gave the stranger was intense and Diego knew exactly what it was like to be at the receiving end of that gaze. Even just watching him from afar, he felt his stomach drop and his heart flutter and his knees go weak and-

“Diego!” Eudora had caught up to him at last and was putting a hand on his shoulder to make him turn around to face her but he hardly had eyes for her as she did. He hadn't seen Klaus in so long that he had almost forgotten just how pretty his adopted brother was. He had always been too pretty for his own good. Seeing him now, it all came crashing back down on him. The stolen kisses in the attic of the academy, the secret meetings in his bedroom after midnight when the house had been silent and still. He was truly a lost cause, wasn’t he?

“Diego, just … don't just run away like this.” Eudora tried once more. “Let's talk about it.”

“There is nothing to talk about” He bristled and brushed her hand off in anger. It wasn’t really that he was angry that they were no longer a couple. He was angry that she had called him here to break up, that she had made a fool out of him for so long. He felt like the chewing toy of some dog. He had felt like this after Lila too. Eudora was now the second person to treat him and see him like a dog. “You wanted to break up? Okay, cool, but then have the balls and stick to it too.”

“We could still be friends and-” He noticed how her eyes moved over to the bar and her face dropped at the sight of Number Four. “Is that Klaus?”

As he turned back to face the bar, he noticed that Klaus was no longer staring at his latest catch. Their eyes met across the room and there was nothing else that seemed important but those hypnotic green eyes. There was a smile ghosting over Klaus’ pale face and he got up from the barstool without regard for the man he had been flirting with even as the guy called out for him in confusion. 

“What's he doing here? Did you know he was here?” Eudora’s voice sounded almost accusatory - as if she had any right to be accusing him of anything. 

“No” Diego shrugged before he shook her off and walked two steps away from her. “Go back to your friends, Eudora.” 

It was weird as he walked over to meet Klaus halfway. He had loved Eudora. He really had. At least he thought that he had loved her. But with her … it was never like it was with _him_. It wasn't this kind of magnetic pull and it was sickening to him to realize that. Eudora had been safety and security - a warm blanket. Lila had been intoxicating because she was so wild and unhinged and he had felt like he needed to prove to her that he was worth her time. Klaus, however … He was something else entirely. 

Diego couldn't help but feel like the worst person possible. He felt like his relationship with Eudora had not even been real because how could it be real when he had never felt the way he was feeling now? Eudora was beautiful and she was sexy and she would have been the right fit for him too. She would have managed to get him under control, to make him sort out his life and actually become a proper adult, a proper man, maybe a husband, and even a father at one point. But it was Klaus he was drawn to and he had no chance against that pull in his stomach. He remembered meeting Klaus again when he had been with Lila and it had been like just his appearance had broken the spell she had had on him. 

The first thing he noticed as he was stopping in front of Klaus was that he was not jittery and that his eyes didn't have this wild look about them too. If he wouldn't know it any better, he would be inclined to say that he was actually sober this time around. They didn't need words as Klaus dove right in for the hug or as Diego lifted him off his feet as he leaned back ever so slightly. They had never really needed words. And Diego had never been good with words anyway. Klaus could understand him in his silence perfectly well.

“Hey” Klaus smiled but his voice was soft and quiet as he said this simple little word no louder than a whisper. 

“Hey” He replied with a smirk and sat him down again. 

“Wanna head out of that shithole?” Klaus grinned as if they were not in the bar of some five-star hotel where the fucking chandelier in the lobby was made of gold and Swarovski crystals - or as if they hadn't been separated for two years now without any sign of life coming from Klaus. 

“Diego” Eudora’s voice almost made him flinch but he glanced over his shoulder only shortly before he nodded. Eudora had no right looking so flustered right now. _She_ had broken up with him, after all. _She_ had dragged him to this fucking stupid party with _her_ friends and then broke up with him not caring about his feelings in the slightest. 

He had come to the conclusion that most people didn't really consider that he had feelings too. Lila hadn’t either. He had been a toy for her just like he had been a toy for Eudora. Klaus was different in this regard. He remembered Klaus curling around him and kissing him when he had cried after special training in the safety of his own bedroom. He remembered Klaus smiling encouragingly at him when he had forced his way through a stutter. He remembered Klaus just staying close to him and not saying anything whenever he had needed it the most. 

“Yeah” He breathed and put his arm around Klaus and allowed him to lead the way. 

※※※※※※※

The sun was rising over the river as Diego pulled Klaus closer to his chest. He could see the bite mark where he had bit his shoulder earlier and couldn't help but press a kiss to the abused skin there. Not that he would regret anything. 

“So … where did you get this mattress from?” Diego mumbled quietly into the silence of his car.

“I stole it from a roommate” Klaus hummed. “When I was in that halfway house. He was an annoying bitch so … when I finally got to move out I stole his mattress as revenge.”

“Petty” Diego huffed. “I love it.”

After leaving the hotel in his car they had driven around for a while, stealing kisses at red lights as if they had never been apart, as if they had not crashed and burned and broken each other's hearts. They had stopped at some weird abandoned house after Klaus had stated that he had all his stuff there. Number Four had then returned with this stupid single mattress and a plastic bag full with a few items of clothing and silly little trinkets he had collected over the years. Now the mattress filled the back of his car after they folded down the backseat and created a bed for themselves. 

“I think we should keep living like this” Klaus hummed quietly.

“In a car?”

“On the road.” Klaus grinned. “I mean … can you imagine us living in a nicely decorated flat with potted plants and pictures on the walls? We should just … drive around the country. Just us and this stupid car and this mattress. What else do we need?”

He was right. What else did they need? They had each other again, after all, and nothing else seemed to matter right now. “Where have you been all this time?”

“Oh … here and there … you know? Also … prison.”

“Prison?”

“Yeah … I was booked for solicitation and then they found all the drugs and so I got thrown in the hole for a bit over a year and then I went to that halfway house and then I ended up squatting in that house.” Solicitation. It had been an open secret between them that Klaus was selling himself for drugs and money and Diego had always preferred to not think about it, to ignore it. It seemed easier this way. “Who was this woman? Your girlfriend?”

“She broke up with me tonight” He muttered. “But it was only a matter of time … We weren't really … We didn't really work out together, you see? We weren't really close. Whenever I wanted to open up about something … instead of listening she tried to fix me.”

“There's nothing to fix, though” Klaus mumbled. “You’re perfect the way you are.”

“And you are the only person who ever thought that.”

“I was always more intelligent as the average person.” 

“I get why she tried it, though … I mean … It's what I did with you too and what drove you away from me. I understand you better now. I tried to fix you when we were a couple. I didn't understand that you yourself needed to make the decision to change your ways.”

“Amen, Brother” Klaus snickered. “In a way, I guess, prison was a real blessing. I had this really cute social worker who came by often. You know … the type of guy who is still fresh-faced and actually believes in the good of people. He believed in me, I guess.”

“I believed in you.”

“That was different, though.” Klaus laughed. “You believed in me because you love me and have the hots for me. He believed that I could actually turn my life around. I mean I’m still homeless but … I turned it around, I guess. At least I’m trying now to stay sober.”

“I should’ve been there.”

“Maybe” He sighed. “But maybe it was better this way. Maybe we needed this time apart to grow closer.”

“What now?”

“I dunno … Las Vegas? Mexico?” Klaus grinned. “We could always go annoy our dear sister in L.A. Just imagine it. Lounging at the beach the entire day, basking in the sun with fancy drinks with tiny pink umbrellas in it.”

The idea sounded heavenly and Diego paused to contemplate it too. They could live on the road like Klaus said. They could make money with their little circus tricks along the way. They could visit Allison. Klaus was restless. He was a person in a perpetual state of change. Nailing him down in the same place for too long wasn’t good for him. And Diego … He just wanted to get away from this city, away from all the bad memories he had had of this place. 

“Let's do it” He sighed. “Just you and me and the open road, Baby.” 


End file.
